These are the highlights of the journey at the Chang Jung Christian University (CJCU) that I have begun on September of 2011. As of the end of January, 2013, the journey took a turn and the spirit continues...

Friday, May 10, 2013

“Did Burger King marry Dairy Queen?” asked a five year old
girl.“Yes, they did,” the father answered with sincere smile.He was not teaching her, but learning from
her.

Most kids still believe Santa Clause, miracles and angels. I
envy them.

Then I met a few pastors who are still believers of miracles
and angels.

This is a story about their experience of meeting the
answers of the prayers and an angel.

In August 8, 2009 a powerful typhoon hit Taiwan and caused the
now infamous “88 Flood” (88水災.)A few local pastors near Chia-yi County by
the Ali Mountain worked with the locals and the aboriginals to save lives and
provided food and shelters during that critical time.At that time the daily afternoon summer
thunder storms became a real threat to their effort of securing the paths along
the hills.These Presbyterian pastors
decided to get together and asked God to stop the northwestern thunder storms (西北雨) from certain periods of
time for certain villages, between 2 PM and 4 PM, and they got their prayers
answered.They secretly told me
afterward, that it was hard to believe…

Jesus said, Let the little ones come to me, and do not
keep them away: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matt 19:14)

Then they have new challenges.One church has provided a semi-furnished
building as settlement for aboriginals (原住民安置所)
who lost their shelters during the flood.Another church out-reach institution also provided the mustard seeds for
them to grow and make some profits.But
where is the needed fund?Not enough.Again, they turned to God.

***

All fish were born swimming.All angels were created flying.But Mr. C that I have known for more than forty years is a
new kind of angel.He walks down to the
earth like most of us.He worked his way
up.Fortunately for many, when he
retired, he becomes a head of a foundation which provides charity funds to many
non-for-profit organizations all over Taiwan and beyond.

Then on one occasion, Mr. C met these pastors unexpectedly.They ate simple meals and talked, and he
listened with great interest.And Mr. C was
touched with their efforts to give helping hands to the less fortunate.They stated the situations, and he answered
with promises.

As all angels, Mr. C kept his promises.

Mr. C once asked me how to pray.“Use your heart, not your words. God would
understand you completely,” I said.

He did.And God seemed
to understand him too.

Along came an angel, or angels, flying or walking, unexpected,
but not surprised.

Monday, March 11, 2013

After three semesters at CJCU, my wife and I bid goodbye to
the CJCU community as my journey took a big turn.And shortly after, I ran into a sudden
realization (頓悟) that
every journey simply continues no matter where you are and what you do.

And like the stories in the Bible, they continue till this
day.

My courses at the CJCU involved with the Bible (the Old Testament
and the New; their interpretations and applications), the formation of the
spirituality and the early Christian missions.

There was one thing in common. They all dealt with stories:

The
stories of the people of Israel and the stories of the gentiles.

The
stories of love and hatred, of obedience and rebellion, of trust and
mistrust.

More
sad stories than the happy ones, just like all human stories.

Some
stories are heard more often than the others, but each has its point made.

As some friends told me before that they seldom heard me preach the
messages of justice.I humbly
agree.I do not quite understand the point
of justice, Godly or humanly. I just preach what I think I can understand a
little - about love.

According to the estimate, there are more than 7 billion
people on the earth.There are at least
seven billion stories to be told.

The stories of the seven billions brothers and sisters are
to be shared.Like the stories of the
Bible, they too are our stories.

Take no small measure of the human stories - these stories
are also God’s stories.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

They could easily be passed by the church standards as the
non-believers.And they actually are
non-Christians. They don’t talk like one of us, and they don’t act like one of the so
called Christians.

Here they are, seven of them, my high school (台南一中)
classmates.We have met as a group less
than eight times in the last 53 years.And
when we met, we still called each other the nicknames we used to call when we
were in high school.We shared different
jokes now and then with certain respect unknown to the outsiders.

We also shared the memories of our few friends who were gone
prematurely years ago.When we were
together, we laughed till our tears dropped.We are, after all, grandpas now.But we still act like the growing young adults facing the world with
those never ending wonders. When we were
together, looking at each others, silently wondering what the heck happened in
the last 50+ years…

And most of all, we stand together with good causes.Like the charity drive for the scholarship of
the needy students of the Dept of Theology at CJCU (長榮大學)since last summer.It was not the first charity they have
faced.And just the three of them came
up with more than 20% of the grand total of NT$500,000.

They would certainly go as angels unrecognized most of the
time. And they did. They don’t look a bit like angels.Like most men over 70’s, they just look
old.They don’t even have enough
sideburns, let alone the wings, to show off.

Simply put, unlike angels, they don’t fly.

Still, their hearts and their deeds are flying high like
angels.

Angels are, more often than one may think, passing by unrecognized.

Love, hearts and deeds of the angels are always felt and recognized,
universally.